


Teaspoon :: Shiver by Absinthe

by amythestice



Series: Fitz Files [1]
Category: Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors
Genre: M/M, None - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 09:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11033430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amythestice/pseuds/amythestice
Summary: It's not all fun and games on a snowy world when Fitz meets a femme fatale.





	Teaspoon :: Shiver by Absinthe

**Author's Note:**

> * * *

Shiver by Absinthe

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

  
**Author's Notes:**

* * *

  
Fitz woke with a start, pitched out of bed by a sudden violent jerk. He got up and hurried to the console room, thinking there might be a problem with the TARDIS. running into Anji in the corridor. They both burst into the console room and found the Doctor hanging onto the edge of the console.  
"What's going on?" Fitz asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, we landed in the night, whatever is shaking us is outside, but I can't get the screen to work to have a look."  
The TARDIS rocked again and Fitz found himself slamming into the wall with enough force to knock him out. Anji had fallen onto the couch and when the floor was level again, she hurried over to Fitz.  
  
"Is he OK?" the Doctor called, still trying to get the screen to work.  
  
"I don't think so. He hit the wall so hard his head is bleeding, and he's out cold." She called back, the Doctor abandoned the console and hurried over, displacing her so he could kneel beside Fitz and check his eyes and breathing.  
"The cut is minor, scalp wounds always look worse than they are, but he seems to be quite deeply unconscious. I'm going to take him to the medical bay and just get a quick scan and make sure everything is OK in there, then we can leave him to sleep it off." The Doctor said, slipping his arms under Fitz's shoulders and knees and lifting him easily, carrying him out of the console room.  
  
Fitz opened his eyes and found the TARDIS cold and dark, he sat up and swung his legs off the medical couch and went to see what was going on. There was no sign of the Doctor or Anji anywhere as far as he could tell, and the low level hum he usually heard in the back of his head from the TARDIS telepathic circuits was gone. The TARDIS seemed to be dead, and he was all alone here. Why had they abandoned him, why had they gone wherever they had gone without him. Panicking, he ran through the silent corridors calling for the Doctor. Strong, invisible hands grabbed him, pinning him against the wall and he struggled, crying out sharply.  
"Fitz, it's OK, it's just me, snap out of it Fitz." The Doctor's voice cut across the darkness and the Doctor was there, pinning him against the wall.  
"Why did you leave me? How could you leave me here alone?" Fitz yelled, still fighting the grip.  
Anji stood in the corner of the medical bay, watching with frightened eyes as Fitz lay on the bed, still unconscious but fighting the Doctor's grip and yelling that he'd left him alone.  
"Fitz, no one left you, you are unconscious, and you have to snap out of it, you have to WAKE UP." The Doctor said, shouting the last two words. Fitz sat bolt upright, pale and shaking, his breathing fast and ragged. The Doctor held him close, Fitz's head on his shoulder like a parent comforting a child after a nightmare. Fitz finally calmed down and pulled away from the Doctor, his face flushing with embarrassment.  
"Are you all right, are you calm now?" The Doctor asked, watching Fitz closely.  
"Yeah, I'm sorry, it was just so..."  
"I know, I saw. I had to go into your mind to try to reach you, I saw what you were dreaming."  
"I'm sorry." Fitz said again.  
"Why? We all have our fears Fitz, even me."  
"I suppose. Can I get up now?"  
"I'd rather you slept for a while."  
"NO. I don't want to sleep, the way I feel right now I never want to sleep again."  
"All right, but if you feel dizzy or get any headaches, you have to tell me, it was a hard knock you took."  
"All right."  
"Promise?"  
"I promise."  
The doctor reluctantly allowed Fitz to get up and he and Anji left him to get dressed.  
"Anji, will you wait here for him, I need to try to fix the screen and in view of his nightmare he could use some company."  
"What was his nightmare?"  
"He was alone."  
"Is that all?"  
"Anji, one of his greatest fears is to be totally and utterly alone, it scares him more than death. That is one of the reasons the TARDIS maintains a telepathic link to him, so he will never be truly alone."  
"I'll wait for him."  
"Thank you."  
Fitz came out of the medical bay looking more himself, and she caught him trying to hide the look of relief that she was waiting for him. They walked in silence to the console room, but outside the door he stopped her.  
"He told you didn't he?"  
"Told me what?"  
"About the nightmare, about what I'm afraid of."  
"Yes, I'm sorry, I promise I won't tell anyone."  
"S'OK, who would you tell? The Doctor and the TARDIS both know."  
They went into the console room and found the Doctor on his back under the console.  
"Got it." He said and the screen sprang to life as he pulled himself out. The screen showed a snowy landscape, and a wide swathe through the snow on the hill behind them gave a pretty good indication where all the bumps had come from.  
"Skiing in a TARDIS, do you think it will make an Olympic sport?" Fitz asked, looking at the screen and shivering, it looked bloody cold out there.  
"I shouldn't think so, too hard to get hold of the equipment." The Doctor said, flashing him a quick smile, he could feel Fitz fighting to make everything feel normal.  
"So, where are we?" Anji asked.  
"According to the database we're on Cardini IV. The planet spends 12 of the 13 months in it's year covered in snow so it has a very good tourist industry based on what you would call winter sports on Earth. So, should we stay for a while?" The Doctor asked.  
"It's ages since I went skiing." Anji said, thrilled.  
"Well I've never skied in my life and I don't intend to start now. One thump on the head per planet is quite enough for me, thank you." Fitz said.  
"There's always the ski lodges where you can sit with a hot drink and watch other people make fools of themselves on the snow." The Doctor said.  
"Now that sounds much more like my pace." Fitz said.  
"OK, then let's go and have some fun." The Doctor said.  
The Doctor rented them all rooms at one of the lodges, then he and Anji went out to have some fun in the snow, leaving Fitz to watch them from the balcony with a big mug of hot chocolate. A beautiful young woman came and sat across the table from him.  
"Hello." She purred.  
"Hi." Fitz said absently, he was watching the Doctor gathering some snowballs to use as ammunition against Anji. He smiled as the Doctor launched one, hitting her in the back of the head.  
"Are they friends of yours?" The woman asked, watching the snowball fight develop.  
"Yes."  
"Don't you like to make new friends?" The woman asked, and Fitz finally turned to look at her, realizing how gorgeous she was.  
"I always like making new friends." Fitz said.  
"Would you like to come for a walk with me?" She asked. Fitz looked over at where the Doctor and Anji were throwing snow at each other. He was torn for a moment, the Doctor would be expecting him to be here when he came back, but then he shrugged, they were having fun, why shouldn't he go for a walk with a pretty girl.  
"OK." He said, grabbing his coat.  
She led him up the hill behind the hotel, away from any other people, then smiling, drew him into a shallow cave.  
"What are you doing?" He asked.  
"Making new friends." She said, kissing him. Fitz pulled away, unsure why, but knowing he didn't want to do this, for some reason he thought the Doctor might not approve.  
"Just relax." She said, kissing his neck.  
"No." He said, but there was a sudden sharp pain in his neck and he found he couldn't pull away from her. He felt very weak and couldn't stand up anymore, she pushed him against the cave wall and smiled, and as he slid down the wall, he dully noticed blood on her mouth.  
"You bit me." He said, his vision graying around the edges.  
"Don't take it personally sweetie, you tasted wonderful." She said, slipping away as he blacked out.  
Anji and the Doctor went back into the lodge, laughing and breathless and wet from the snow.  
"Where's Fitz?" Anji asked.  
"He was here before, maybe he went back to his room." The Doctor said. They saw a pretty woman circling the room, passing the time of day with various men.  
"I'm just going to check on him. I'm worried about that head injury." The Doctor said, going upstairs. He went into Fitz's room when there was no answer to his knock and found the room was deserted. He hurried back down to the lounge where Anji waited with two mugs of chocolate.  
"How is he?" She asked.  
"Gone. There is no sign of him at all in his room."  
"So? He'll have gone for a walk or something."  
"No, something is wrong Anji, I can feel it, we have to find him." The Doctor said, pulling his gloves back on.  
"I'm coming with you." Anji said, pulling her own gloves on and following him outside. The light was starting to fade and she pulled her coat around her.  
"It's getting dark, how are we supposed to find him?" She asked.  
"I can follow his telepathic link to the TARDIS, but it feels very weak, he feels weak." The Doctor said. He stood still for a moment trying to focus on the tenuous connection, then he started off up the hill, his eyes still half closed. Halfway up the hill, the Doctor paused, looking around him in confusion.  
"He should be in sight here, we're right on top of him."  
Anji wandered a little away from him and saw two sets of footsteps coming up the hill and one set going down, they seemed to be leading into the snow.  
"Doctor." She called. He came over and she pointed out what she had found. He pulled a torch from his pocket and pointed it into the darkness of the small cave. There was a huddled bundle in the corner and the heavy metallic smell of human blood in the air.  
"Fitz." The Doctor said, shoving the torch into Anji's hand and going over to the bundle. He turned Fitz onto his back and in the light of the torch his skin was paler than the Doctor's own, his lips blue and his breathing shallow. There was a small pool of blood on the rock floor and two punctures in his neck.  
"Vampire bite." He said in shock.  
"Do vampires really exist?" Anji asked, her voice shaking.  
"Yes." The Doctor said grimly. He put two fingers to Fitz's neck, feeling for his pulse, which thudded sluggishly under his fingertips.  
"He's lost a dangerous amount of blood, we need to get him some medical attention quickly or he's going to die on us." The Doctor said, picking Fitz up and carrying him out of the cave.  
Hospitals are the same all over the universe, Anji thought grimly as the waited in a sterile white corridor, the smell of disinfectant heavy on the air. They had been ordered to wait there when a highly efficient medical team had taken control of Fitz, rushing him through a set of double doors at he end of the corridor. The Doctor was watching these doors with an odd expression on his face.  
"What's wrong?" Anji asked.  
"I'm worried about him, I don't want him to die Anji."  
"Neither do I. He's a tough sod Doctor, he'll pull through." Anji said, but the Doctor didn't look too sure, running through his mind were some of the vampire legends, about how people bitten by a vampire, if they survived, would become one.  
An officious looking young woman in a figure hugging black uniform came up to them.  
"I'm detective Lupin, I understand you came in with Mr. Kreiner, the attack victim."  
"Yes." The Doctor said, tuning to face her, but Anji could tell his attention was focused on the room where the medical team fought to hang onto Fitz.  
"What is your relationship to the victim?"  
"We're his friends, we're here on vacation together." Anji said.  
"Can you tell me what happened to him?"  
"We don't know, we were out in the snow, he stayed in the lodge, when we came back he was gone."  
"What made you go looking for him?"  
"I was worried about him, he suffered a blow to the head recently and I was concerned about him being alone."  
"And how did you manage to find him?"  
"I have a faint psychic link, it means I can find him if I need to." The Doctor said, telling her as little of the truth as he felt he could get away with.  
"Well, he's lucky."  
"You have an odd idea of luck." Anji said, shocked.  
"There have been a dozen attacks like this in the last eight weeks, blood drained, punctures to the neck, and your friend in there is the only one who has been found alive. Provided they can keep him alive, he's the best lead we have."  
"Great, which gives whoever did this a reason to come in here and finish him." Anji said.  
"We'll put a guard on him, if he lives, the minute he identifies his attacker, we'll arrest them."  
"Always assuming he can identify them, I've heard stories about attacks like this on other worlds, and the creatures who are responsible for the attacks are seldom caught."  
"Creature, odd choice of words." The detective said.  
"Not really." The Doctor said. The doors at the end of the corridor opened and a tall thin man in a blue scrub suit came out, heading for them.  
"Lupin." He said to the detective, nodding a quick greeting, then he turned his full attention to the Doctor and Anji.  
"Mr. Kreiner is critical, but fairly stable. We're pushing blood into him as fast as we can, but it's going to be touch and go until his blood volume is back to normal. He slipped into a coma about fifteen minutes ago, we're transferring him to the intensive care unit, then you can see him."  
"Thank you."  
"I want to post a guard on him. He's the only survivor so far and I don't want him finished before we get a chance to question him."  
"Your sense of tact amazes me Lupin." The doctor said acidly, leading the Doctor and Anji away from her. The young detective had the grace to blush.  
The Doctor and Anji moved slowly to the bed where Fitz lay, still looking deathly pale, tubes of blood running to his arm were the only color in the room.  
"He looks awful." Anji whispered. The Doctor gently took Fitz's hand, feeling skin almost as cold as his own.  
"Hang in there Fitz, stay with us." He whispered.  
Anji and the Doctor had been ordered to go back to the lodge to get some rest, and they went down to breakfast first thing the next morning both looking like they hadn't slept. They were sitting picking at their food when detective Lupin came in and took one of the spare chairs at their table.  
"First off, I want you to know I didn't mean to be insensitive last night."  
"We understand you have a job to do detective."  
"Yes, and I've been doing it all night. We questioned everyone here and we found out that Mr. Kreiner left here with a woman last night. Can you tell me if he made a habit of going off with strange women?"  
"Yes." Anji said.  
"Not so much recently. He's been very quiet, staying quite close." The Doctor disagreed.  
"So, who is this woman he left with?" Anji asked.  
"That we can't find out, aside from the fact she was very attractive. She wasn't a guest here, but she's been seen around here."  
"And you have your guard over Fitz?"  
"Of course, no one gets near him."  
"I hope you're not including us in that." The Doctor said.  
"No, I left instructions that you two could go in. By the way, they finished giving him the blood, he's still in a coma, but he's no longer listed as critical."  
"Thank you." The Doctor said.  
They were on their way back to the medical center when Anji broached a subject that had been bothering her.  
"Doctor, you think Fitz was attacked by a vampire, right?"  
"Yes, why?"  
"Well, it was daylight when we found him, so it must have been daylight when they left the lodge. I thought vampires burned up in the light."  
"That's a myth, the only two sure way's to kill a vampire are decapitation and a stake through the heart."  
"Oh, and is it also a myth that anyone who survives a vampire bite turns into a vampire?"  
"I don't know for sure, I hope it is a myth. We'll just have to keep a vary close watch on him and hope he doesn't go round attacking people."  
"And if he does, can you kill him?"  
"No. If he turns, we get him back to the TARDIS and find him a cure." The Doctor said firmly as they walked into the medical center.  
There was a little more color in Fitz today, and the frightening blue tint had gone from his lips.  
"He's still a little anemic, but the blood volume is back to normal and he's out of danger." The doctor said tiredly, he was about to go off duty after a very long shift.  
"So why is he still unconscious?" Anji asked.  
"He's been through a very traumatic experience, he'll wake up when he's ready."  
The hospital was on it's night cycle, and the guard outside the door of Fitz's room was bored and half asleep. There was no one else in the corridor and he didn't notice a thing as the door behind him opened and a hand reached out, clamping around his mouth and dragging him back into the room. Fitz clamped the struggling guard tight against his body, bending his head to the guards neck, his eye teeth extended into sharp fangs to puncture the throbbing jugular vein of his struggling prey.  
The man whimpered and fell still as the fangs punctured his throat and Fitz began to feed.  
The Doctor was woken by a hammering at the door of his room, he had just lain down for a minute, and must have fallen asleep, it was very rare for him to sleep at all, but to fall asleep without realizing, he must have been more drained than he thought. He got up to open the door and found Anji and Lupin standing in the hall. Lupin looked like she'd been dragged out of bed too.  
"The guard has been killed and your friend is missing." Lupin said bluntly. The Doctor grabbed his coat and the three of them went to the hospital.  
"I'd like to see the body of the guard." The Doctor said.  
"Sure, why not." Lupin shrugged. The Doctor was taken down to the morgue, followed by Lupin. They pulled out the drawer and the Doctor looked at the puncture wounds on the mans neck.  
"A different bite." He said.  
"What?"  
"He wasn't bitten by the same person who bit Fitz. The bite is bigger."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes."  
"So are you saying we have more than one killer on the loose?"  
"I think you do now. I think Fitz bit this man. When he was bitten, I think he was infected by something and has become the same as the creature that bit him."  
"Why do I get the feeling the word you're avoiding is vampires."  
"All right, yes, vampires."  
"So we need to find and dispatch two mythical blood sucking creatures."  
"One, I'm not going to let you kill Fitz. If it is an infection, I can cure him."  
"And if its not an infection, if there's nothing you can to to get him back to what he was before?"  
"Then he dies by my hand not yours."  
"He killed one of my men."  
"He's not responsible for his actions. If he's been turned, he's driven by a need for blood now, the only creature to blame is the vampire who turned him."  
"All right, first we catch them, then we see." Lupin said.  
Anji had refused to go down to the morgue, they went and joined her in the corridor and the Doctor pulled her aside.  
"Anji, I want you to promise me that if you see Fitz, you will stay well away from him."  
"He killed the guard, didn't he?"  
"Yes. He's not to blame Anji, but he's not in control either. If he gets hold of you he could kill you."  
"Fitz is a vampire?"  
"Yes, promise me Anji."  
"I promise if I see him I'll run like hell, as long as you promise the same thing."  
"I'm not eager to become lunch for one of my friends Anji. Go back to the lodge and lock yourself in your room, I'm going to stick with Lupin and make sure she doesn't kill him as soon as she sees him."  
It wasn't until he was gone that Anji realized he hadn't promised to stay away from Fitz if he saw him. She just knew he was going to get himself killed trying to save Fitz, who had gotten into this himself, going of with some woman he didn't know.  
She went back to her room and locked the door, she flicked on the light and turned to go lie on her bed. Fitz was standing in the middle of the floor, looking at her with a hunger in his eyes. She screamed, backing into the door, fumbling for the key.  
  
He moved closer and she tried desperately to get the door open.  
"Please Fitz, leave me alone." She said, tears running down her face. He grabbed her and pulled her close, the fangs extending. She looked into his gray eyes, sobbing.  
"Please Fitz, let me go. I thought we were friends."  
He snarled and pushed her away from him, running and jumping out of the window, vanishing into the snowy night. She huddled on the floor, sobbing in relief and terror. She couldn't believe the cold soulless look in his eyes, he had been turned into a monster, why hadn't he killed her?  
She pulled herself together and went down to the lounge, feeling she would be safer with other people around her.  
She was still there when the Doctor came back in the early hours, after Lupin had gone home.  
"I thought you were going to lock yourself in your room." He said.  
"I did, unfortunately Fitz was there first."  
"Did he bite you?" The Doctor asked, his eyes going to her neck.  
"No, he was going to, I could see the hunger in his eyes, the desperation, but he didn't."  
"Why?"  
"You want him to have bitten me?"  
"No, I want to know why he didn't. Did you do anything?"  
"I cried, I asked him not to, I said I thought we were friends."  
"So Fitz isn't entirely gone, some of the human side of him is still fighting to hold on."  
"This is good?"  
"Yes, it means we might be in with a chance of bringing him back."  
"If you can find him. He jumped out of the window."  
"I'll find him."  
"The telepathic link?"  
"Yes."  
"Where is he?"  
"I'm not sure, but he's not far away. I'll find him in the morning."  
Fitz stood outside the windows of another lodge further up the mountain, he could see the woman who had bitten him inside, chatting to another young man like she had talked to him. He felt a surge of rage, this woman had turned him into a monster, he had almost killed one of his friends because of her, and now she was going to either kill someone else or turn them into a monster like him.  
They came out, her giggling on his arm and she started to lead him up the mountain. Fitz followed them, keeping his distance until he was sure she was going to attack this guy, then he launched himself at her.  
The guy screamed as the pretty woman he had been with turned into a fanged monster before his eyes, and the guy who had jumped her transformed in the same way. As they started a vicious battle, he ran down the hill, screaming.  
Lupin was annoyed at being dragged out of bed again, but her interest was piqued when the junior officer said that a man had reported two fanged monsters fighting on the mountain. For a moment she considered going without telling the Doctor, after all, he wasn't even a police officer, but then she sighed, she had promised, and it was his friend who had been turned into a blood sucking monster.  
The dawn was breaking as they got up to where the man had said the monsters were fighting, there was a lot of churned snow and blood, and in the middle of it, the woman lay with a stake through her heart, her fangs glistening in the early light.  
"It looks like your friend got his revenge on the woman who changed him. Is that what we're going to have to do to him, stick a bit of wood through his chest?"  
"No. Whatever she did to him, he's fighting it. He could have killed Anji and he didn't. We might be able to save him. We at least have to try."  
"Great, how do we find him?"  
"I don't know, I can't feel him through our connection, he must be too far away, but I will find him, and I will save him."  
"Fine, have it your way." She said.  
The Doctor wondered exactly what it was he was feeling for Fitz as he followed Lupin back down the mountain in silence. He loved him, he realized, and didn't want to see him killed, lying dead in the snow with a stake though his heart like that woman.  
Anji was waiting in the doorway of her room when he came back.  
"Was he there?" She asked.  
"No, but he had been, he killed the vampire that turned him."  
"Have we lost him?"  
"Not yet, I'm not ready to give up on him yet." The Doctor said. He went to the door of his room and paused with his hand on the handle.  
"What's wrong?" Anji asked.  
"What? Oh, nothing, just tired."  
He went into the room and didn't bother turning the lights on.  
"Are you going to bite me?" He asked into the darkness. Fitz stepped into the beam of moonlight.  
"No." Fitz said, his voice faint and distant. The Doctor flicked the lights on and looked at Fitz. He was pale and looked haunted, dark shadows under his eyes. Fitz turned his face away and the Doctor strode over and took Fitz's chin in his hand, firmly turning his face back so he could study it.  
"You haven't fed since you killed the guard at the hospital, have you?"  
"I can't, it's wrong." Fitz whispered, he reached out a hand and touched the Doctor's cheek gently, his skin cold as ice.  
"I wish I'd told you how I felt, but it's too late now. I'm a monster Doctor, kill me."  
"No."  
"Please, the hunger is so strong, I can't fight it much longer, if you don't kill me, then I won't be able to stop myself from feeding on another living being, and I don't want to do that."  
"No, come with me to the TARDIS, I need to run some tests, I need to see if we can help you."  
"Why do you want to help me, look what I've become."  
"Fitz, you are a victim, and I will not abandon you. Do you think you're the only one with feelings you denied, feelings you kept hidden? I love you damn you and I will not kill you without at least trying everything possible."  
"I'll come." Fitz said.  
The Doctor took Fitz to the medical bay in the TARDIS and made him get on the couch, cautiously strapping him down. He drew the blood to analyze, then looked down at Fitz.  
"Will it help if I give you a blood transfusion?" He asked.  
"It won't stop the hunger, to do that I have to drink the blood."  
"All right, hang in there, I'm going to start the analysis, then we'll see about feeding you." He said. He went to run the blood through his equipment, then got some blood from the medical store, warming it to normal human body heat he put it in a bowl and carried it to Fitz.  
"Here." He said, putting a hand under Fitz's shoulders to lift him slightly and putting the bowl to his lips. He felt a little sick as Fitz drank the blood, and he could see his hands flexing in the straps. He wondered if Fitz was strong enough to break the straps, because he had just remembered that vampires were stronger than humans, or time lords. The analyzer bleeped and the Doctor gently let Fitz down and went to check the readout.  
"Well, there's good news Fitz. There is a virus in your system, but your engineered immune system seems to be up to the job of fighting it. You just have to hang on, and let the virus flush out of your body. We'll feed you to get your strength up and you'll be yourself in no time."  
Full now with blood, Fitz snarled, low and guttural, and the Doctor realized his mistake in feeding the vampire, it had grown stronger, and overwhelmed Fitz. The only way he was going to get Fitz back, was to starve it. It went against his nature to do that, but there was no other way. Eventually the vampire fell asleep and the Doctor added some reinforced straps to the couch, then he went to let Anji and Lupin know what was going on.  
"You told me not to go near him, then you went off alone to the TARDIS with him." Anji yelled.  
"I knew he wouldn't hurt me."  
"You knew that he was in your room before you went in there. I remember now, you paused, you sensed he was in there, and you went in anyway."  
"I can't explain Anji, I really can't explain." The Doctor said.  
"Try, try and explain why you went off with someone who already killed two people." She snapped.  
"I told you I wouldn't let him die, and I meant it."  
"Fine, but you still shouldn't have taken the risk of being alone with him."  
"He won't hurt me Anji, and I have him under restraint."  
"I want to question him." Lupin said.  
"Not yet. I have him under restraint, but I won't risk letting anyone get too close to him."  
"You said he wasn't a threat."  
"I said he wasn't a threat to me."  
"How can you be so sure?" Anji and Lupin asked almost in unison.  
"Because I would sense it if he meant me harm. Look, I've confirmed that there is a virus in his blood stream, but he's fighting it off."  
"Then he'll be completely clear of it?" Anji asked.  
"I doubt it, there will always be traces if it, that's how the human body builds up and immunity, but it won't be active, it won't cause the bloodlust."  
"Where is he?" Lupin asked.  
"Safe." The Doctor said.  
"I want him under police guard. I know you said he wasn't responsible for his actions, but we need to question him. If it turns out he knew what he was doing, then he'll have to be charged with two murders."  
"Two? The woman was a vampire, she is responsible for all the deaths."  
"We have to have him in custody."  
"No, he stays where he is, and no one but me goes near him." The Doctor said with finality, storming from the room. Lupin looked at Anji.  
"Do you have any idea where he's hidden Kreiner?"  
"I have an idea, but it won't do us any good, if he doesn't want us to find Fitz, we won't."  
"Make sure he understands I don't like people getting away with murder."  
"I will, but Fitz as been with him for a long time, he'll protect him to the bitter end, and there's something else going on there, something he wasn't saying."  
"Look, you know Kreiner is dangerous, he tried to kill you. If you find out where the Doctor is keeping him, you have to tell me."  
"I'll think about it." Anji said, she knew Fitz had tried to kill her, but he hadn't, and surely she owed more loyalty to him than to Lupin.  
The Doctor went back to the TARDIS and checked on Fitz, he still seemed to be sleeping and the Doctor turned to leave the room.  
"Doctor."  
He turned back to look at Fitz, and jumped, he had broken even the reinforced restraints and now stood directly behind the Doctor, his usually soft gray eyes hard and intent. He wondered if he was strong enough to fight Fitz off if he attacked.  
"You're afraid." Fitz said.  
"A little." The Doctor admitted.  
"You're afraid of me, I frighten you. I would never hurt you." Fitz said, his eyes hurt as he backed off.  
"I know you wouldn't hurt me Fitz, but the thing inside you might, and you're not always in control, because it definitely wasn't you looking at me a moment ago.  
"I'm so afraid Doctor. I don't understand what's happening to me."  
"It's going to be all right." The Doctor promised, swallowing down his fear he went over and took Fitz by the arm, leading him back to the bed.  
"Get some rest."  
"You should kill me now, while you can, while I am in control."  
"No, you will beat this thing. I'm not going to kill you Fitz."  
"I could kill you where you stood, and there would be nothing you could do about it. I can hear your hearts beating, pumping the blood around your body, and I'm stronger than you, so much stronger."  
The next thing the Doctor knew, he was flat on his back on the floor, Fitz pinning him down. The hunger burned in his eyes, and the sharp fangs were extended.  
"Do it then." The Doctor said, tipping his head back to offer his throat as a target.  
Fitz's breathing became fast and shallow, and his fingers dug painfully into the Doctor's upper arms. The Doctor lay perfectly still, knowing a wrong move now would get his throat torn out. With a sudden move, Fitz's weight was gone, the Doctor cautiously sat up and saw Fitz lying curled up in a corner, his shoulders heaving with silent sobs, he pulled himself across the floor and sat behind Fitz, gently stroking his back and hair.  
"It's all right, everything is going to be all right, you just let it out." He said soothingly. Fitz eventually cried himself out and fell into an uneasy sleep, and the Doctor shivered, rubbing the sore spots on his arms where the younger mans fingers had dug into the flesh of his. The strength of the vampire had frightened him, but also given him a fleeting tremor of excitement. It was quite arousing being pinned under Fitz like that, to know he couldn't fight back.  
Anji managed to give Lupin the slip and return to the TARDIS a couple of days later, and found the Doctor in the console room. She was stunned to see him covered in bruises.  
"I thought you were sure he wouldn't hurt you."  
"At least he hasn't bitten me." The Doctor said tiredly.  
"How is he?"  
"I think he's finally fighting off the virus, either that or the fact he hasn't fed is weakening him, because he's getting more manageable."  
"Doctor, you're covered in bruises, if that is what he's done weakened, I'd hate to see what he could have done at full strength."  
"At full strength, he threw me on the floor and pinned me down. If he's wanted to kill me there would have been nothing I could have done to stop him."  
"Where is he now?"  
"He's sleeping. Don't go looking for him Anji, I don't want you anywhere near him until I'm sure it's over."  
"Lupin is still angry, she wants to talk to him."  
"I would have thought she would have calmed down by now."  
"She says she doesn't like people getting away with murder."  
"He hasn't murdered anyone." The Doctor said irritably.  
"That's a matter of opinion. Nice place you have here." Lupin said, coming into the console room.  
"You brought her here." The Doctor said, looking accusingly at Anji.  
"No I swear I didn't."  
"She didn't, I thought if she believed she had given me the slip she would lead me to you, and I was right. Where is he?"  
"Where you won't find him."  
"He's a killer."  
"Not through choice. Leave him alone Lupin."  
"I want to see him, convince me he's innocent."  
"Fine." The Doctor sighed. Both women followed him through the doors deeper into the TARDIS. He took them to the room where he had been holding Fitz and cautiously opened the door, but he needn't have worried, Fitz lay huddled in the corner of the room furthest form the door. He was thinner than he had ever been before and his skin was pale aside form the black smudges under his eyes.  
"He looks worse than he did when he was bitten." Anji said, horrified. Fitz would normally have woken at the sound of voices, but now he didn't move. Alarmed, the Doctor hurried over to check on him.  
"He's fallen unconscious, he's so weak. Hopefully this will soon be over, one way or the other."  
"You mean he might die?" Anji asked.  
"He might, I've been starving him to weaken the vampire inside him." The Doctor said, lifting Fitz back onto the couch. He took some blood and shooed them out of the room while he went to run an analysis. The virus had gone, fought off by Fitz's immune system. There were still markers in his blood that would prevent him ever being infected with the same virus again, and he suspected that some of the changes Fitz had undergone would be permanent. Shrugging he decided he didn't care, as long as Fitz was alive and he could stop Lupin arresting him for murder, nothing else mattered.  
He went back to Fitz and hooked up some equipment to nourish him while he was unconscious, then went to try to get rid of Lupin.  
"Will he live?" Lupin asked.  
"Yes."  
"I still need to question him. He will have to answer for the blood on his hands."  
"Well, he's still unconscious at the moment, and probably will be for a couple of days."  
"Fine, then I'll get someone to come and stand guard over him, just to make sure he doesn't disappear." She said, looking hard at the Doctor. She pulled out her radio.  
"That won't work in here." The Doctor said. Lupin glared at him and stepped out of the doors into the snow. The Doctor flicked the lever to lock the doors.  
"What are you doing?" Anji asked as the Doctor started resetting controls.  
"Getting him away from her. She won't accept he's not responsible for the deaths Anji, she can't be allowed to arrest him."  
"Why?"  
"Because I did some research. People convicted of murder here are executed."  
Lupin was just radioing for someone to come out and stand guard over her prisoner when she heard a terrible groaning, wheezing noise right behind her, spinning she saw the blue box fading from view. Stunned, she waved her hand through the space it had occupied, thinking maybe it had just been camouflaged, but there was nothing there. The Doctor, Anji and her prisoner were gone. Shaking, she canceled the radio call and walked back to her office to write up her report, wondering just how she was going to explain this.  
Anji looked at the Doctor as the screen filled with the swirling colors of the vortex.  
"I don't believe you did that, you just launched us, going on the run with a man who has killed two people."  
"Anji, how many times do I have to say this, Fitz didn't kill them, it was the virus he was infected with that killed them, and he is himself again now."  
"So why don't you sound sure of that?" She demanded. He sighed and sat down on the sofa.  
"I suspect some of the physical changes are irreversible."  
"He's not still going to have to feed on blood is he?"  
"No, I don't think so. I think the bloodlust and pathological hunger were psychological changes. We'll have to see when he wakes up. Why don't you go and get some sleep Anji, you look tired."  
"And you of course look fresh as a daisy. There's no way I'm sleeping until I can be sure I'm not going to wake up with his teeth at my throat."  
"I'll stay with him Anji, you are perfectly safe."  
"I'd still be happier if there was a lock on my door." She muttered, going out of the console room. The Doctor returned to the room where Fitz lay. He was still unconscious, but the nutrients seemed to be doing their job, and he was getting better. He found a chair and sat beside the couch, just watching Fitz. He really meant to stay awake, but the last few days had really taken it out of him and in the quiet room his head fell forward onto his chest and he fell asleep.  
The next thing he was aware of, cool fingers were touching his face and he jerked awake to find Fitz gently touching the bruises on his face.  
"Did I do this?" Fitz asked softly.  
"You couldn't help it." He said. Fitz sank back on the edge of the couch, looking at his hands.  
"How do you feel?" The Doctor asked him.  
"Different, is the monster gone now?"  
"Your immune system fought off the virus, but I don't think that you'll ever be the way you were before."  
"Good." Fitz said, surprising the Doctor. He glanced quickly at the Doctor, then looked away again.  
"I don't remember much, but I think..." He stumbled to a halt, but the Doctor remained silent, waiting for Fitz to work his way through what he was feeling.  
"I think we both said things that we need to talk about, things about our feelings."  
"You've been through a lot Fitz, you're tired, we don't need to do this now."  
"Yes we do, or I do anyway. I'm not sure I understand what I'm feeling, and it scares the hell out of me, but I love you."  
"And I love you."  
"So what do we do? I've never had feelings like this for another man before."  
The Doctor came to sit beside him, he gently gripped his jaw in one hand, turning his face he leaned close to kiss him. Fitz pulled back a little, frightened.  
"It's all right." The Doctor whispered, leaning close again. Fitz stayed still this time, every nerve and muscle taut as the Doctor touched his lips to Fitz's in a gentle kiss. All the tension melted out of Fitz and the Doctor allowed the kiss to deepen, his arms sliding around Fitz, and Fitz responded by putting his arms around the Doctor and they both sank down onto the soft surface of the couch.  
Between kisses, the Doctor’s clothes were struggled out of, and dropped to the floor, along with the medical gown Fitz had been wearing.  
Fitz gasped and whimpered as the Doctor’s cool hand closed around his growing erection, stroking him to full hardness. He wrapped his own hand around the Doctor’s marble hardness, earning himself a soft moan of approval into their kiss.  
They finally stopped kissing, instead lying with their foreheads together, they watched as they stoked each other to completion.  
They lazily kissed again as they came down from the tense pleasure of orgasm, semen cooling on their bodies.  
“Love you.” Fitz murmured as he drifted into an exhausted sleep. The Doctor smiled and kissed his forehead before getting up just long enough to grab a towel to clean them both up, then slipping back into the bed beside his lover.  
Fitz woke up feeling the electric touch of the Doctor's bare skin against his own, one of the Doctor's arms was thrown carelessly over Fitz's waist and he could feel his breath on the back of his neck.  
"Fitz?" The Doctor murmured, sensing he was awake.  
"Yes."  
"Are you all right? No regrets?"  
Fitz rolled onto his back so he could look at the Doctor, who idly began to stroke the skin of his chest.  
"No regrets. What about you?"  
"None at all." The Doctor said, propping himself up on one elbow so he could kiss Fitz.  
"I'm not ready for Anji to know about this." Fitz said as he watched the Doctor dress half an hour later.  
"OK." The Doctor said, passing Fitz his medical gown as he found it under his own clothes on the floor.  
"I'm starving." Fitz said suddenly.  
"What did you have in mind?" The Doctor asked, hoping he didn't say blood.  
"Something totally unhealthy. Eggs, bacon, that kind of thing. Do you know where my proper clothes went?"  
"I'll go and get you some from your room."  
The Doctor brought Fitz a pair of black jeans and a black tee shirt, and when he was dressed they went to the kitchen together. The Doctor sat at the table as Fitz moved around the kitchen, scrambling eggs and frying bacon and sausages. Anji came in when they were almost ready, and stopped short, staring warily at Fitz.  
"Hi. Hungry?" He asked her.  
"Sure." She said, flicking an uncertain glance at the Doctor and slowly moving to sit at the table across from the him. Fitz dished the food onto three plates and they ate in stained silence, Anji casting continual nervous looks over at Fitz.  
"I'm not going to bite you Anji." Fitz finally said, a faint trace of irritation in his voice.  
"I'm sorry Fitz, but you can't blame me for being nervous. You did try to bite me, remember."  
"I'm sorry," Fitz said, rising from the table and leaving the kitchen.  
"Anji." The Doctor said, a faint tone of reprimand in his voice.  
"I can't help being afraid Doctor, I thought he was going to kill me, and yes, I know he didn't, but it will take a little time for me to trust him again."  
  
"I understand, but he's been through a bad time too, and he needs our support. He is no threat to you."  
  
"I'll try not to make it so obvious I'm uncomfortable around him. That's the best I can do, Doctor."  
  
"That's a start, Anji, that's all I ask for." The Doctor said, leaving to follow Fitz and make sure he was all right.  
Fitz was in the console room, looking at the swirling vortex on the screen, tight lines of tension visible in his shoulders.  
"She didn't mean to upset you Fitz."  
"She's right to be afraid though, isn't she. I did try to kill her, and I'm different now and I still don't know if I'm a danger to the two of you."  
"Fitz, as long as you can keep control, there won't be any danger."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I got a feeling what some of the physical changes were last night, you're stronger than you were, more stamina, but the need to kill has gone, the need to feed on blood is gone, right?"  
  
"Don't, the very thought makes me feel sick," Fitz said, shuddering.  
  
"There may be other changes, we'll find them as we come to them, but you have to keep control Fitz, if you lose your temper, you could hurt someone, but other than that, you are not a threat. Do you understand?"  
  
"I understand." Fitz said.  
"Good."  
"Where are we going?" Fitz asked, his eyes going back to the screen.  
"Nowhere in particular, I just set the controls to get us away from Cardini, and you away from detective Lupin."  
"Ah, thank you."  
  
They spent the rest of the day playing chess in the chess room, and Anji spent it avoiding being anywhere Fitz was, but as it got late in the evening, she came in with a plate of sandwiches.  
  
"I didn't think you two had eaten since breakfast." She said, smiling warily at Fitz.  
  
"Thanks." The Doctor said, surprised.  
  
"No problem. Fitz, could I have a word?" She led him outside into the corridor. "Fitz, I wanted to say I'm sorry about before. I've been doing some thinking today, and he's right, it's not your fault that woman attacked you, it's not your fault she made you sick. You're not a monster Fitz, and even in my room, you were fighting it, you didn't want to attack me. We've been pretty good friends, and I don't want to lose that over this."  
"I'm glad Anji." He said.  
"Go on, get back to your game and eat your sandwiches." She said, squeezing his arm and walking away down the corridor.  
"OK?" The Doctor asked as he went back in.  
"Yeah, I think Anji and I are going to be all right."  
"Good, I hate it when people fight." He said.  
They finished the game and the Doctor leaned back in his chair, eating a sandwich and looking at Fitz in the flickering firelight.  
"You look tired, you should get some sleep."  
"With you?" Fitz asked, his soft gray eyes locking with the Doctor's brilliant blue eyes. The Doctor rose and held out a hand to Fitz, pulling him out of the chair they went together to Fitz's room.  
“Will you make love to me?” Fitz asked as they undressed after closing the door behind them.  
“Now? Are you sure?”  
“Yes. I want to feel you inside of me.” Fitz said, carding his fingers through the soft, curly hair.  
The Doctor picked up his coat and searched through the pockets, coming up with a tube of gel. He put it on the nightstand as they got into bed and kissed gently.  
The Doctor picked up the tube and spread some of the gel on his fingers, reaching down and gently slipping the first finger into Fitz, slowly pumping it in and out.  
“OK? It doesn’t feel uncomfortable?” He asked, looking up at Fitz. He saw a crimson blush flow across his lover’s face and raised an eyebrow.  
“I’ve been…. touching……myself like that, imagining that it was you.” Fitz confessed. The Doctor grinned and kissed his lover’s stomach.  
“So now it’s time for the real thing.” He said, brushing over the other man’s prostate. Fitz cried out, stars dancing over his vision.  
“Yes.” He gasped, his cock aching hard now.  
The Doctor finished preparing him, then moved back up the bed, kissing Fitz slowly as he lifted his legs around his waist and started to ease inside.  
Fitz’s eyes widened as the hardness opened him up, feeling the burn as he was stretched. The Doctor paused once he was sheathed, looking down at him.  
“So warm, so tight.” He whispered, kissing him hard. Fitz tightened his legs around the Doctor’s waist.  
“Move, please move.” He begged. The Doctor complied, rolling his hips, and Fitz gasped as the thick, hard rod inside him shifted, brushing his prostate.  
“Oh God yes.” Fitz murmured.  
The Doctor smiled, starting a gentle rhythm of thrusts, hitting his prostate constantly. Fitz cried out, raising his hips to meet every thrust, the blood roaring in his ears as the pressure inside him built.  
The Doctor wanted Fitz to come at the same time he did, so as he felt himself reaching climax, he reached between them, stroking Fitz’s straining cock firmly.  
Fitz yelled wordlessly, coming harder than he had ever come in his life, feeling the warm flood inside him as his lover came too.  
They lay entangled, panting hard as they came down from their climaxes, and Fitz whimpered a soft protest as the Doctor gently disengaged his now flaccid organ.  
  
“I can feel you, in my head.” Fitz whispered, touching his forehead.  
  
“And I can feel you. We’re linked now.”  
  
”For always, or just for a short time.”  
  
“For always, unless you want me to break the link, but I would have to do that now.  
  
”No. I don’t ever want it broken, ” Fitz said sleepily, giggling faintly as the Doctor cleaned them both up  
  
“Good. It’s time to sleep now.” The Doctor smiled, pulling Fitz into his arms, letting him settle with his head on the Doctor’s shoulder as he fell asleep.  
  
The Doctor held his lover as he slept, stunned that he could feel the logical, ordered hum of his mind. He was used to feeling a faint contact with Fitz through their shared link to the TARDIS, but he'd never felt a connection this deep with anyone else in all his lifetimes. He stroked Fitz's hair, then settled down with his arms around him to sleep, finally understanding love after more than two hundred years of holding himself aloof.  
  
  
End

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